wi The Hiftory of Book I. 



KEQV1EU. 



THe Requiem, otherwife called the Sharl^FiJh, is a kind of 

 Sea-Dog ox Sea- Wolf, the raoft devouring of all Fifties, 

 and the moft greedy of mans flefti : He is much to be feared by 

 fuch as go a fwimming He lives altogether by prey, and com- 

 monly follows the (hips to feed on the filth caft out of them in- 

 to the fca. Thefe Monfters feem to be of a yellowifh colour in 

 the water.* Some of them are of an unmeafurable length and 

 bignefs, and fuch as are able to cut a man in two at one bite .* 

 Their Ikin is rough, and there are made of it foft files to polifh 

 wood : Their heads are flat, and the opening of their mouth is 

 not juft before the fnout, but underit: Whence it comes, that 

 to faften on their prey they are forc'd to turn their bellies al- 

 moft upwards : Their teeth are very (harp and very broad, 

 being jagged all about like a Saw : Some of them have three 

 or four ranks of thefe in each jaw-bone : Thefe teeth lye with- 

 in the gums, but they make them fufhciently appear when there 

 is occafion. 



Thefe cruel Sea- Dogs are attended by two or three fmall 

 fifties, and fometimes more, which go before them with fuch 

 fwiftnefs, and fo regular a motion, that they either advance or 

 halt more or lefs according as they perceive the Requiems do : 

 Some call them Rambos, and Pilgrims, and the French Mari- 

 ners, the Requiems Pilots, inafmuch as thofe fmall fifties ftem to 

 be their convoys : They are not much above a foot in length, 

 and of a proportionable bignefs .* But their fcalesare beautified 

 with fo many pretty and lively colours, that it might be faid, 

 they were encompats'd which chains of Pearl, Coral, Eme- 

 rald, and other precious ftones .• A man can hardly be weary of 

 looking on them in the water.. 



It is in like manner affirmed, that the Whale where-ever fhe 

 goes hath marching before her a little fifh like a Sea- Gudgeon 3 

 which from that fervice is called her Guide : The Whale fol- 

 lows him, fuffering her felf to be led and turn'd as eafily as the 

 Rudder caufes the Ship to turn about 5 and in requital of this 

 fer vice, whereas whatever elfe enters into the horrid Chaos of 

 this Monfters throat is immediately loft and devour'd, this lit- 

 tle fifti makes it his retiring, and his refting place 3 and while 

 he lyes there a fleep the Whale ftirs not, but as foonashegets 

 out fhe prefently follows him : and if it happen the faid fifh 

 fhould be a little out of the way, fhe wanders up and down, 

 ftriking many times againft the Rocks , as a Ship without a 

 Rudder 5 which thing Plutarch affirms that himfelf was an eye- 

 witnefs of in the Ifland of Anticyra. There is fuch another 

 friendfhip between the little Bird called the Wren and the Cro- 

 codile 5 and that Shell-fifh called the Naker lives in the fame 



man- 



